Kevin Collins disappearance: 'Person of interest' named, report says

SAN FRANCISCO -- Police have named a "person of interest" in the disappearance of a 10-year-old boy almost three decades ago, a man who died in 2008, published reports say.

The Masonic Avenue home police searched this week was occupied by a man named Dan Therrion in 1984, when Kevin Collins disappeared, according to ABC7 News. Police used jackhammers to dig up the ground below the home last week, finding remains that were later said to be those of an animal, not a child.

Police questioned Therrion six days after Kevin disappeared but did not search his backyard or his basement, according to the television report.

Kevin's disappearance sparked a national search effort and brought new prominence to the issue of missing or kidnapped children. His picture appeared on the cover of Newsweek magazine and was one of the first to be featured on milk cartons.

A fourth-grader at St. Agnes School in the Haight-Ashbury district, Kevin was last seen Feb. 10, 1984, shortly before 8 p.m., waiting for a bus at the corner of Oak Street and Masonic Avenue after leaving basketball practice at the school gymnasium.